Concerns about the safety of serving Muslim military personnel were raised yesterday after it emerged that their personal details were among those of 600,000 people held on a laptop-stolen from a Royal Navy officer’s car.
Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials fear that Muslims are particularly exposed to a potential threat following an alleged plot to kidnap and behead a serving British Muslim soldier in Birmingham last year.
“There’s a rumpus going on inside the MoD about the threat to Muslim recruits after this theft,” said a military insider. “They are very concerned about the Birmingham connection and of the alleged Birmingham plot.
The data loss is considered so serious that Des-Browne, the defence secretary, will make a statement on it to MPs tomorrow.
Via The Times
Theft of data on 600,000 people, including members of the Navy, Marines, and the RAF, was initially kept from the police and ministers. The theft of the laptop that contained the unencrypted-data was reported to the police immediately, it was only “later” that they were told.
The MoD-said it was writing to the 3,500 people whose bank accounts were included in the database and informing the banks.
"The Ministry of Defence can confirm that a laptop was stolen from a Royal Navy officer in Birmingham last week, on the night of 9/10 January, and as a result, a large quantity of personal data has been lost."
Via The Times
